Entrapped Shroud
by Nardragon
Summary: Carmilla has convinced Ell to run away with her, but things don't go as planned. My take on the events that happened that night in 1872.


It was a cold evening. Even though the sun had set little over an hour ago a chill was already beginning to cling in the air. From where she sat Carmilla could see the small pond growing ridged at the edges with frost and ice. Fog hung in the air, casting an ethereal shroud over everything. The trees closest to her stood like solemn grey pillars, looming, watching. Beyond that the white veil covered everything else.

On any other night she'd take pleasure in in the way it encased the area, where she could pretend that nothing else beyond that veil existed. No Mothers. No passed loves who had left etched lines on her surface of her heart. No need to betray someone she loved to a fate she could not even fathom.

But tonight, more than ever she was all too aware of the things that lay out there, the things that would haunt and pursue her. The fog limited her vision, which she did not like. She sat in silence, straining her ears to do the job her eyes couldn't right now. Warn her of anyone approaching.

Low wind lifted the tendrils of the willow she sat under and leaves shuttered with a soft sigh. Her whole body tensed as she heard the whoosh of air. A flutter of wings. A crow landed on the branch of a tree not twenty paces from her and her heart leapt into her throat. For five horrifying seconds she was convinced this was the end.

But the crow tilted its head and gave one gloomy cry before taking wings and disappearing beyond the veil. She took a shuttering breathe that she did not need and released the fabric of her dress from a vice like grip. She lay her hands flat on her lap smoothening the skirt of her dress. She didn't really care about her appearance, but she was too nervous to stay still. She and Ell had agreed to meet at this tree at sunset. The time for that had long gone past.

Already a hundred different questions had tumbled through her mind. Had she been delayed? Did someone discover her trying to sneak out? Had Ell's father discovered the plan? Could her own mother have somehow found out what Carmilla was planning and taken Ell before she got here? Or…did Ell decide not to come away with her?

Carmilla wasn't sure which of the latter two terrified her more.

"It will be fine," she said the words out loud, hoping hearing them would help reassure her. They did not. That's when she heard approaching footsteps. Her body tensed again, but only for a moment before she recognised the light gait. It was Ell. She got to her feet and took a few steps towards the sound of the footsteps. Now she could see her figure through the fog. A smile she could not restrain appeared on her lips, and she all but ran to her.

"You came," Carmilla cupped her face with her hands, "I was frightened you choose to stay."

Ell looked away. Her eyes were glazed and she was shaking. Carmilla was too happy to notice the way her body stiffened when she touched her.

"I matters not what I thought. You're here now, and we can be together."

Leaning forward she pressed her lips to Ell's softly. For a second all was well. Just a second.

The next moment her chest was searing in pain. She jumped back with a cry of pain, clawing at her chest where it felt like she'd been burned with a hot iron. She looked at Ell and for the first time noticed the deep red jewel set in cruel, cold looking metal. It looked at that way, but it felt anything but cold when Carmilla touched it.

"Ell?" She wheezed. Her stomach suddenly left like a pit.

"Monster," The word was barely a whisper but Carm heard it. She body went cold. Ell's lips parted, as though she was about to speak again. But instead of words a short, pained gasp fell from her mouth. Her eyes rolls back in her head and her body started to spasm.

"Ell!" Carmilla rushed to her, catching her as her body turned limp, "Ell? Ell! Say something. What's happening? Ell!" She already knew what was happening, and it was even worst that she could have imagined. "Please, Ell, open your eyes. What have you done Ell? Ell?"

The girl's eyes opened, but Carmilla knew that it wasn't Ell. Without any warning Ell's hand was around Carmilla's neck, squeezing with more strength than Ell should have been capable off. Carmilla gasped, not because of a lack of air, but because of pain and shock.

"Listen to you, sniveling over this worthless creature. You always had an unhealthy fondness for the insects, but I never thought you would be foolish enough to betray me for one of them."

"I…love her," Carmilla croaked out, her voice almost unperceivable past the hand clamping at her throat.

"Love? You don't know what love is. How could you?"

"I've been alive-"

"For only a small fraction of the time I've spent on this earth. You know nothing you insolent child. The fact you're could even consider this kind of folly proves just how ignorant you are."

The hand clamping at her throat vanished and Carmilla fell back, hitting the cold ground. She saw figures approaching from the fog, surrounding her. Ell reached up and took the necklace off. Her body crumpled and fell to the ground, like a tattered doll.

"Ell…" Carmilla pulled herself closer, and lifted her head, "Ell, why?"

Her eyes fluttered, "Carm…"

"Take the girl away."

Ell was pulled from her arms.

"No!" She lunged forward but was tackled to the ground, her face pushed into the dirt. She managed to tilt her chin up enough to see Ell, now fully awake, being dragged away kicking and screaming. Her vision turned red and with a roar she transformed into a panther, throwing off whoever was on her back. Someone ran at her, but her knocked them to the ground with a paw and pounced. Her jaws ripped through flesh and bone. No even a vampire could survive having their neck shredded to ribbons.

More attacked, some in their animal forms, some normally, all trying to pin her down. She fought like a wildfire, unpredictable and growing ever more furious with each second. That is until-

"Enough!"

Carmilla was tossed into a tree with such force she felt her spine crack. She fell to the ground in human form, her ears ringing with white noise and her vision going black. She watched the blurry shadowy figure that she knew was her mother loom over her before she slipped unconscious.

The next thing she knew was she waking up, bound. She was surrounded by liquid. She quickly recognized it as blood. She sat up, pain searing up her back. It was enough to make her vision blur and she was forced back down. The lid was shut and she could hear the sounds of it being sealed. She screamed, breaking the binds, dislocating her shoulder in the process.

It didn't stop her from pounding against the lid and sides of what she now knew to be a coffin. Her coffin. She kicked and punched, but no matter how much she tried she couldn't make a dent. The whole coffin shuttered for a second and she paused, realizing what was happening. She was being lowered into the ground.

She pounded with renewed fury, tears burning her eyes and mixing with the blood. Now she could hear the sound of dirt being dropped on top of her. She pounded again and again, until she couldn't anymore. Then there was nothing. No sounds. Nothing to see. Only utter, pitch blackness and the taste of blood that she knew would eventual grow foul.

She was alone.

* * *

This is just my take on what happened the night Ell betrayed Carmilla to her mother. It's short is most likely going to remain a one-shot. I decided to post this since I never upload any fics for Carmilla, even though it's my favourite show of all time.

Nardragon~ until the next page.


End file.
